I’m not enjoying the books I am reading

[AnnotherReader]

I am not enjoying the books I am reading at the moment. I have read 38 books so far this year and only 2 have been 5 stars and one of them was a reread.

I have been through all my favourite books and picked out common themes. Can you recommend me any books based on my likes/dislikes below. I have also listed some of my favourite books and how they fit with the list.

likes:
time period 1800-1939 (either written in this period or more recent books set in this period)
rural or wild setting
a book within a book or books to do with books/stories/reading
pirates/books set on ships
romance
adventure
magic
crime especially golden age
epistolary novels
the chosen one trope

don’t like:
thrillers
literary fiction
smut/ too much sex

favourite books:
Emma by Jane Austen (time period, romance, rural setting)
Bath Tangle by Georgette Heyer (time period, romance, rural setting in part)
A Month in the Country (time period, rural setting)
The Reader by Traci Chee (rural setting, book about a book, adventure, pirates/ships)
The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood (book within a book, romance)
The Documents in the Case by Dorothy Sayers (epistolary, crime, time period)
Dangerous Liasions (epistolary, romance)
The Liveship Traders trilogy by Robin Hobb (ships, pirates, adventure, some romance)
Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell (time period, romance, rural setting)
Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell (time period, magic)
Harry Potter (magic, the chosen one)
The Famous Five by Enid Blyton (rural setting, adventure) - I loved these books as a child and have never managed to find the equivalent adult adventure books

I have read all of Jane Austen, Georgette Heyer, Agatha Christie, the Brontes, Elizabeth Gaskell and am currently working my way through the rest of Robin Hobbs Realm of the Elderlings books.

If you have read all this, thank you, as you can see from my favourite books they don’t have to include everything on my likes list but most have at least 2. Please give me some recommendations for other books I might like.

Dracula was written in 1890s and is written in epistolary style. There's a bit on a ship 😄. It is literary fiction obviously so you might not like it. But it is wonderful.

A pp has mentioned Sherlock Holmes but I would especially underline the long stories - The Study in Scarlet, The Valley of Fear lesser read adventure stories, also period. And also The Sign of Four and The Hound of the Baskervilles. Probably recommend The Valley of Fear most.

Have you read CS Sansom - The Shardlake Series? You might like them

The Famous Five by Enid Blyton (rural setting, adventure) - I loved these books as a child and have never managed to find the equivalent adult adventure books

If you liked The Famous Five, try the original published versions of the first three Hardy Boys books - the ones that are available free on Project Gutenberg. (The Tower Treasure, The House On The Cliff, The Secret Of The Old Mill.) They are not exactly adult books, but they are better written than Enid Blyton's stuff from the same time period, and are aimed at an older teenage audience.

(Don't bother with any recent Hardy Boys books, or the later rewrites/reprints from the 1950s onwards - those are aimed at much younger kids. Stick with editions from the 1940s or earlier)

Things in jars - Jess Kidd

Have you tried using Storygraph? I haven't got to grips with it myself yet but I've heard the recommendations on it are pretty good? It works by categorising books probably along similar lines to how you've already done yourself.